IN THE NOTES: DESERT ISLAND DISCS 2015

If you know me, you'll know that I am a huge appreciator of music, I know, know who isn't? But there's something about listening way past the vocals and picking up the drum beat or the riff of a bass guitar and truly absorbing yourself in a song.

My job involves a lot of writing and working in a bustling office, I usually plug in my ear-phones and spiral into Spotify to help me concentrate. More recently though, i've been slowly making my way through the BBC Radio 2 'Desert Island Disc' archives.

For anybody who isn't familiar with the concept, a well known individual who could be a writer, a musician or a politician is invited onto the show to talk through eight recordings, a book and a luxury item that they would take if they were to be cast away on a desert island - all whilst discussing their lives and the reasons for their choices.

Of course my musical taste evolves over time and I guess this list will someday become obsolete. I mean some 18 years ago I was buzzing for S Club 7 and Steps (still am btw) and had never heard of Joy Division and the other bands way before my time that have been circulating my car playlist recently.

Today i'm sharing with you, my current desert island discs, though I won't bore you with eight choices, instead we shall stick to four. I wouldn't say my choices are fully representative of musical taste as they're fairly all from the same rock genre.

'Gimme Shelter' - The Rolling StonesI first discovered this track in 2013 when I was living in a particularly unpleasant situation at university. The people who I shared a flat with weren't particularly my cup of tea and I spent a lot of time running away to my then boyfriend who lived in London. It was a time when I was experimenting with style and was more often than not found rockin' bright red Doc Martens with equally as bright plaid trousers and a mustard jumper. I had 'discovered' London so to speak and loved nothing more than learning about the 'swinging 60s' and cultural movements under the cities influence. Upon my return from the smoke I would dread walking up the staircase to the front door of the flat I lived in. More often than not i'd be playing 'Gimme Shelter' on my ipod, with it's moody riffs, screeching support vocals from Merry Clayton, insanely dark lyrics and intense opening riff, what could be more fitting for such a difficult time? I have to say that Gimme Shelter is probably my most appreciated song of all time, it features on a number of my favourite films including one of my top 3 films of all time, Layer Cake in a sexy scene between Daniel Craig and Sienna Miller. I love watching The Stones play this live at Glastonbury 2013, the magic between Keith Richards and Mick Jagger is awesome to watch.

'Kinky Afro' - The Happy Monday's Probably the most recent entry on my list, this song reminds me of buying my first car and taking it out for a drive on my own for the first time. I hadn't managed to tune the radio in to a station and it was stuck on some obscure channel playing Kinky Afro. Driving has never made me feel particularly comfortable and i'm not the most confident driver...especially after taking a 4 year hiatus however, turning up the gristly voice of Shaun Rider and thinking of Bez' classic dance moves made the drive home from the garage all the more exciting. I'd recently watched Steve Coogan in the film '24 hour party people' a reflection upon the work of the late Tony Walker and Factory records (who the Monday's were signed to) and was feeling the late 80s/90s Madchester nostalgia.

'Who do you think you are' - Spice GirlsAnother from my earlier days at university, I guess i'm lucky in the sense that i've always known roughly what I wanted to 'be when I grew up' - any job that involved writing. The lyrics in this song are a great motivator to go out and achieve something. "The race is on to get out of the bottom." Whilst I was at uni, the media and people around me would hammer home how difficult it would be to find a job as nobody was employing and jobs in journalism were rare. I was really frightened by the prospect of 'wasting' £9,000 on a worthless degree and having to move back in with my parents and sign on whilst applying for jobs. People would share tales of them applying for 100 jobs a week and getting nowhere, the news battered graduates and I was feeling really concerned about my place in the future as a 'real life adult'. Amongst starting this blog, making sure I always had a job and working hard to bag a summer internship at a fantastic company in London, I managed to land a great job straight out of uni and start climbing the ladder. "What's driving you is ambition and betting?"'Rooms on fire'- Stevie NicksMy karaoke classic. If there's a karaoke machine i'm singing this. There's isn't a particularly meaningful reason why i've picked this song however, I do really like the lyrics: "I have known this much longer than i've known you' really resonate with me as nobody knows you better than, well...you. We all have our weird quirks and complexes and having lived with them all your life, no matter how close somebody is to you, they'll never truly know you.

Book of choice: 'Life' by Keith Richards because who doesn't want to read Keith's wise words if you're marooned on an island.

Luxury Item:Parasol. If I was on a desert island my skin would fry without it and the prickly heat would become intolerable. In hot climates I like to be shady baby. #BORE.